Time
by JoBelle
Summary: Just some post 'Forgiving' F&G waiting room smushiness.


Title: Time  
  
Author: Jodie/JoBelle  
  
Feedback: Oh please oh please oh please! I know it's tiny and all but even if it's just as 'This sucks!" pleeeease review!  
  
Disclaimer: Joss owns all I just like to imagine them in cutsie smushy scenes :)  
  
Rating: PG  
  
  
  
Charles Gunn was a man of action, he did not sit around and wait for things to happen he went out and made things happen. This was a well known fact by all who knew him and yet here he was sitting outside a hospital room waiting to see what would happen. Waiting for Lorne to call his cell phone and let him know Angel was back at the hotel, waiting for Angel to come back and try to kill Wesley again... He really hoped the latter didn't happen, he was as pissed off at Wesley as anybody but the dude didn't deserve to die. It was a mistake a really stupid, foolish, never should have happened mistake that Wes had made and they were all aching over Connor being gone but he couldn't bear the thought of Wesley being dead and knew Angel when he calmed down wouldn't be able to handle the reality that he had killed Wes. And so here he sat, Fred curled up on her side along the bench head resting on his thigh as she dreamt, eyes darting back and forth beneath closed eyelids.  
  
She gave a small whimper and Gunn brought a hand up to stroke her long dark tresses, making low shushing noises and for a while it seemed like she settled back down till he heard the first whispered 'no'.  
  
"No! No! Leave me alone! Get away from me!" She whimpered, her voice growing louder with each protest.  
  
"Fred? Fred baby you awake?" He asked pushing back some locks of unruly brown hair that had fallen across her face as she twisted and turned her neck.  
  
"No! He's not a cow! Stop! You can't do this!" She yelled, tumbling off the bench before Charles could react.  
  
Fred came awake with a start for a minute she wasn't sure where she was, surrounded by a nurse and two orderlies, Charles' hands a reassuring weight on her shoulders. Then she recognized the floor in front of where they'd been sitting, guarding Wesley she'd certainly stared at the tile long enough. She remembered almost nodding off as Charles ran his fingers through her hair while they talked, then agreeing when he suggested she lie down and then the dream...  
  
Oh God Connor!  
  
The hospital personnel quickly dispersed once Charles explained she'd been having a nightmare, apparently used to this sort of thing from visitors to their patients and he gently helped her up off the floor. Once on her feet she latched onto him, her arms wrapped tight around his torso as she buried her face in his shoulder to hide the tears in her eyes.  
  
"It's okay baby." He whispered, strong hands moving soothingly up and down her back.  
  
Fred gave a choked sob into the front of his sweatshirt. "I'm not the baby, Connor is. What's going to happen to him? I was old enough to take care of myself when I got pulled through a portal and look how well that turned out. Connor, Connor's just a baby." She sniffed and pulled back to look him in the eyes. "He's just a baby Charles, he's small and helpless and..." She couldn't continue, couldn't get the words out past the lump in her throat, couldn't get the image of tiny little Connor with a control collar around his neck.  
  
"Hey," Gunn's voice was gruff with emotion as he tipped her chin up with two fingers so she was looking directly at him. "Listen, Holtz and Sahjahn they both want to hurt Angel and they know that the bigger hurt, the deeper one would be to raise his son to do evil and to hate him but like you said he's still only a baby, they won't hurt him for now, they'll protect him. We got time Fred, we'll save him."  
  
Fred nodded tearfully allowing him to pull her close, his arms sliding around her waist under the bulky jacket, hands splayed across the small of her back. She rested her head against his chest and listened to the calming sound of his heart pounding steadily away, hooking her thumbs into the belt loops on the back of his jeans.  
  
"We'll save him and get back our family baby. Connor, Wes, Angel, everybody! I promise." Charles murmured into her hair. Fred nodded once, felt his lips brush against the top of her head and hugged him harder  
  
"Cause we've got time right?" Fred whispered tremulously.  
  
"Yeah." Gunn replied, giving her a squeeze, hoping he sounded more convinced than he felt. 


End file.
